1. Field of the Invention
The subject invention relates to cutting and grooving implements and techniques, including concrete cutting and grooving apparatus, and, more specifically, to apparatus for cutting material with a circular saw blade and apparatus for grooving concrete with a stack of mutually spaced saw blades.
2. Prior-Art Statement
Concrete cutting and grooving equipment is in widespread use at construction sites and in connection with various concrete structures. For instance, concrete grooving machines have been employed in large numbers in order to render concrete highways safer by the provision of a multitude of parallel grooves in their surfaces. A grooving technique is now also employed to increase the safety of concrete steps and similar structures where slipping by people could be a problem. In fact, the utility and increased safety of concrete step grooving has been recognized through pertinent regulatory provisions of the United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
In executing concrete step and similar grooving jobs, best results in terms of feasibility, efficiency and quality are generally obtained with equipment that is manually propelled along the concrete step or other structure to be grooved. Unfortunately, highway-type grooving machines are not suitable or adaptable to the grooving of steps or similar structures. A previously proposed concrete step groover was a cross between a plane and skill saw, having a bottom which was supposed to slide along the surface of the concrete structure to be cut, and a handle extending transversely to the direction of sliding advance of the groover. Nothing is known here of any practical operability of that type of prior-art groover.
In this area, and in other fields wherein material is grooved or cut by one or more circular saw blades, there exists a need for handy apparatus that can conveniently be operated on top of steps or in close quarters by right-handed and left-handed persons. There also exists a need for such equipment which is conveniently and efficiently adaptable to either hydraulic or electric drive.